What if Catholic bishops aren’t bluffing?

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Ed Morrissey

3/1/12

 

Earlier this week, Francis Cardinal George of the archdiocese of Chicago sent a message to parishioners in Barack Obama’s home town that imposition of the HHS mandate to fund and facilitate contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization would force the Catholic Church to close its hospitals, clinics, schools, and all other organizations that would otherwise have to comply. “Two Lents from now,” Cardinal George warned, “unless something changes, the page [listing Catholic organizations] will be blank.” At the time, some commenters wrote that this has been Obama’s plan all along — to force religious charities out of business to make people more dependent on government. Others, including myself, figure that Obama just thinks the bishops are bluffing, and wants to engage in a high-stakes bout of brinksmanship to force them to kneel to secular authority over doctrine.

 

But how high are those stakes? In my column for The Fiscal Times today, I did a little research just on Catholic hospitals and their significance in American health care. As it turns out, this bet involved nearly $100 billion in annual costs and about one-seventh of all hospital beds in the US — and that’s not all:

 

 

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Of course, it’s not just hospitals. The Catholic Church runs over 7500 primary and secondary education schools in the US (where over a third of students are non-Catholics), educating more than 2.5 million students. Thanks to a near-blanket moratorium on vouchers, taxpayer money doesn’t get used in teaching these students in a system that has a 99% graduation rate and a 97% success rate at placing students in college. Based on an average student cost of $8000 in public schools, Catholic schools save taxpayers about $20 billion dollars a year.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Ricochet: Cardinal Dolan: The Fight Is Far From Over

Chris Hurtubise

2/1/12

 

Much has been written and discussed here in recent weeks regarding the spines of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States -- instigated largely by *Prof. Rahe's two pieces.

 

In his posts and in a recent Ricochet podcast, Rahe prophesied a sliver of hope for the Church's shepherds under the new leadership of Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, which leadership he has dubbed 'post-Bernardinian'. Indeed, Peter Robinson has repeatedly mentioned the 'medical miracle' of miraculous spine formation amongst the prelates.

 

A recent and lengthy blog post from the new Cardinal should go a great distance in buttressing such hopes.

(Snip)

 

 

* The Church Flatulent